The Tea Dragon Society Card Game
The Tea Dragon Society Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 Player Aid cards
- 4 Tea Dragon cards
- 1 Mentors card
- 24 Memory cards (6 cards each for spring, fall, winter, and summer)
- 28 Market cards
- 48 Starter cards (12 cards each in 4 decks)
- 1 Rulebook
- 1 Comic Quick-Start Comic Guide
Setup
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Take Dragon Cards and Starter Decks. Each player takes a Tea Dragon card and places it in their hold. Then, each player takes the matching Starter deck and shuffles it. Return all unused Tea Dragons and Starter decks to the box.
In this game, players do not have hands of cards. Instead, each player keeps their cards face up on the table in their hold next to their deck.
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Prepare Market Tableau. Shuffle the Market deck, draw four cards, and place them in the center of the table to form the Market tableau.
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Shuffle Memory Decks. Separate the Memory deck into its four seasons, shown by the card tops of different colors, and shuffle each season.
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Remove Memory Cards. Remove Memory cards from each season depending on the number of players, and return them to the box without looking at them.
- Two players: Return 3 Memory cards from each season to the box.
- Three players: Return 2 Memory cards from each season to the box.
- Four players: Return 1 Memory card from each season to the box.
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Prepare Memory Tableau. Flip all Memory cards in the spring season face up to make the Memory tableau. Set aside the Memory cards of the other seasons, to be used later in the game.
For a more strategic game, players may reveal the winter Memory cards after this step. This will allow the players to plan more for the endgame scoring cards.
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Choose First Player. The player teaching the game or the oldest player will take the first turn. Give the Mentors card to the player to their right.
Then, begin play, starting with the first player.
Example Three-Player Setup
The setup diagram shows the table arranged with the Memory tableau and Market deck at the center, the Market tableau below them, and each player's area around the outside. Each player area consists of a deck, a Tea Dragon card, and a hold. Player 1, seated with the Mentors card, is the First Player; play continues around the table to Player 2 and Player 3.
The Cards
Most cards in The Tea Dragon Society Card Game share a few common parts.
- The growth you gain by discarding the card from your hold.
- The cost in growth you must spend to buy the card. (Starter cards, marked with St, have no cost.)
- The effect of drawing this card or drawing another card while this card is in your hold.
- The points you score by having this card at the end of the game.
You'll find a detailed description of the cards in the Card Glossary in the back.
How to Play
On your turn, you can choose to do one of three actions:
- Draw a card
- Buy a Market OR Memory card
Once you finish your action, your turn ends, and the player to your left begins their turn.
Drawing a Card
Draw a card from your deck, and add the card to your hold. If your deck is empty, shuffle your discard pile to make a new deck.
A card may have an effect that triggers when it is drawn or when another card is drawn. The effect of a card can only be triggered once per turn.
Buying a Market Card
To buy a Market card, you must discard cards from your hold whose combined growth equals or exceeds the growth cost of the card you want to take.
You don't get change for discarding more growth than you spend, and you don't keep excess growth from turn to turn.
When you take a card from the Market tableau, add it to your hold. Then, draw a new Market card to replace the empty space in the Market tableau. (If the Market deck is empty, reshuffle the Market discard pile to make a new Market deck.)
Two Market cards, Brick and Fickle Dragons, have effects that trigger when the card is revealed on the Market tableau.
Buying a Memory Card
To buy a Memory card, you must discard cards just the same as when buying a Market card.
When you buy a Memory card, place it in your discard pile, and then shuffle your discard pile and deck together to make a new deck.
Then, if only one card remains in the Memory tableau, the seasons change:
- Discard the remaining Memory card.
- Flip up all of the Memory cards in the next season to make a new Memory tableau.
- Discard all cards in the Market tableau, and draw four new cards for the Market tableau.
Game End
The game ends when only one Memory card remains in the winter season.
Players tally up the points on cards in their deck, and the player with the most points wins.
It is the end of the game, and Chamomile is counting up her score. She has four Memory cards: Farmers Market, Picnic, Hungry Dogs, and Tea Ceremony. The first three cards score her 2, 3, and 6 points, and Tea Ceremony scores her 1 point plus 1 point for each card she has, except for her Starter cards. She has 4 Memory cards and 5 Market cards, so it scores her another 9 points. Added up, she's got 21 points. Then she scores her Market cards. Her Necklace scores 2 points, and her Iron Teapot scores 1 point for each Memory card, scoring her 4 points. The rest of her Market cards score no points. Adding everything together, she's got a total of 27 points!
Card Glossary
Growth Cards: Feeding, Entertaining, Sleeping, and Grooming are the Growth cards. These cards are discarded to buy cards from the Market or Memory tableau.
The Mentors Card: You can spend the growth on Mentors as if you discarded a Growth card. When you spend this growth, though, don't discard Mentors. Instead, pass it to the player to your right.
Item Cards: Many Market cards are Items. Some cards will allow you to discard an Item for an effect, or will score you points depending on the number of Items you have.
Mischief Cards: Bite, Bored, Picky, and Grumpy are the Mischief cards. When you draw one, you immediately discard it and may discard a listed Growth card if you have it in your hold. You choose which Growth card to discard if you have multiple of the same name.
Protection Cards: Feeding Clock, Gloves, Wind Chime, and Incense are the Protection cards. When in your hold, a Protection card prevents the listed Mischief card from discarding the listed Growth card.
Tea Dragon Cards: Chamomile, Jasmine, Rooibos, and Ginseng are the Tea Dragon cards. Your Tea Dragon card is always in your hold. Your dragon is paired with a starting deck matching your dragon's personality. Your Tea Dragon card has an effect that triggers when you draw its most common Growth card but have none of that card in your hold.
Vulnerable Cards: Sugary Treat, Milk, Book, and Necklace are the Vulnerable cards. When you draw the listed Mischief card, the Vulnerable card is discarded. Protection cards do not prevent this effect.
Credits
Based on the Oni Press graphic novel by Katie O'Neill.
Game Designers: Steve Ellis and Tyler Tinsley. Illustrator: Katie O'Neill. Graphic Designer: Josh McDowell. Editor: Josh Yearsley. Production Artist: Gordon Tucker. Quickstart comic guide illustrated by Katie O'Neill, lettered by Crank!, with layout by Jake Richmond.
— Renegade Game Studios —
President & Publisher: Scott Gaeta. Controller: Robyn Gaeta. Director of Operations: Leisha Cummins. Director of Sales & Marketing: Sara Erickson. Creative Director: Anita Osburn. Senior Producer: Dan Bojanowski. Marketing Coordinator: Steph Hodge. Customer Service: Jenni Kingma.
— Oni Games Business Development —
Oni Press - Founder and CFO: Joe Nozemack. Publisher: James Lucas Jones. Oni Games - Producers: Steve Ellis and Charlie Chu.
© 2018 Renegade Game Studios. All Rights Reserved. Renegade Game Studios, Oni Press, Oni Games, The Tea Dragon Society Card Game and its logo are trademarks of Renegade Game Studios LLC and Oni Press. The Tea Dragon Society is TM & © 2018 Katie O'Neill.